A 73-year-old taxi driver, Tan Lye Soo, pleaded guilty under the Road Traffic Act for driving without reasonable consideration for other road users, resulting in the death of a 68-year-old man, who was jaywalking.
He was jailed 16 weeks and given a driving ban of 8 years.
The driver was previously convicted of similar traffic offences, including speeding.
What happened?
The incident happened on 26 November 2019, Tan just started his shift at 6pm and his shift finishes at 6am the following morning.
At 4am, he took a break along Gangsa Road and woke up at 4.45am, before heading to the Vicom inspection centre along Bukit Batok Street 23 to refuel his petrol.
He was driving on the 4th lane along Bukit Batok East Avenue 6 at about 5.20am, heading towards Bukit Batok East Avenue 3.
The victim then jaywalked across the road despite the red man showing on the traffic light.
Tan failed to keep a proper lookout and didn’t notice the victim crossing from his right until it was too late, despite him having the right of way.
He then crashed into the victim, before coming to a stop after the junction, alighting from his taxi to help the victim, along with other passersby.
Tan helped to turn the victim over onto his back.
A Health Sciences Authority report said that the victim would’ve been discernible about 10 seconds prior to the collision.
And around that time, Tan was about 113 metres from the pedestrian crossing, but only reacted about 0.1 seconds before impact.
The victim was conveyed conscious to NUH but slipped unconscious en route.
He had suffered a traumatic brain injury, a pelvic fracture as well as an open fracture of his left ankle.
The victim succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead 4 days after the accident, despite receiving treatment.
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